A top state Department of Transportation official has come under fire for telling hundreds of employees that women often aren't promoted in his division because of family duties.What is this, 1950? Puh-lease! At least he figured out quickly that he'd better start investigating himself--no, wait, he's not. He is, to be fair, though, looking at whether there has been discrimination.
Kevin Chesnik, administrator of transportation infrastructure development, made the comment last week at a conference before at least 200 employees he oversees, according to workers who were there. [. . .]
More than 230 DOT employees have been notified that they are at risk of being laid off as part of the reorganization, causing heightened tension throughout the department.
At the meeting March 31 at a Madison hotel, an employee asked Chesnik why more women were not promoted. Chesnik responded that it was hard to find women for high-level jobs because of their roles as mothers, according to four people who attended the meeting.
"He proceeded to say that women need to--how did he put it?--re-evaluate their priorities because they have children," one of the employees said. "It sounded like something you would say in the '60s."
Another said: "Basically, he said the women he's approached feel they're busy home raising their families, and so they typically don't go for these types of positions." [. . .]
In an e-mail he sent to his staff Monday, Chesnik said his comments "were not appropriate and potentially offensive to some people in the audience." But the e-mail did not include an apology, which upset some employees.
"I thought it was in there, actually," he said Thursday. "Because that was the intent. I recognized that, and I wanted to say I'm sorry, and I guess it should have been written in there."
Still, that kind of attitude has no place in someone in a position of authority, someone who influences the promotions, hiring, and firing procedures at DOT. Time for Chesnik to move on.
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